A.Word.A.Day

AWADmail Issue 538

A Compendium of Feedback on the Words in A.Word.A.Day
and Other Tidbits about Words and Language

Sponsor's message: Do you know what attic salt is? This week's Email of the Week winner Perri Klass (see below) does for sure, or will find out putting on any Uppityshirt, even if it's inside out and backwards. Just kidding. FREE SHIPPING.

The discussion of positive thinking reminds me of a Bizarro comic by artist
Dan Piarro showing this variation on the standard "Hear no evil, see no
evil, speak no evil." I thought that
was very clever and very funny, and I'm all about clever and funny!

Alex Pimentel, Richmond, California

From: Ef Deal (GwynnaL aol.com)
Subject: Pollyanna

A pollyanna is also a gift-giving practice: everyone brings a gift to a
party, and then everyone chooses a gift from the pool. I believe it's also
practiced as a secret Santa kind of thing where you draw names from a
pool of names, and buy just that person a gift anonymously.

After reading Pollyanna again, as an adult, I find Pollyanna to be not
naive, but filled with hope and faith in the human condition. I now object
to anyone who calls her naive. Innocence, true innocence, is more powerful
than any tragic thought. And the glad game is so NOT a game, but a practice
of continuous gratitude.

Jean T. Tucker, Canterbury, Connecticut

Email of the Week brought to you by: Oneupmanship -- "Show me a good loser and I'll show you a real loser."

From: Perri Klass (perri.klass nyu.edu)
Subject: Pollyanna

Just wanted to comment that Pollyanna Whittier, though certainly on the
side of optimism, was no fool, and did not by any means go around calling
horrid things wonderful, as your quotation would suggest. She assumes
that people will behave well, and sometimes they surprise themselves by
living up to her expectations, and she searches for realistic ways to
smile at disappointments or turn them into opportunities. Here's an
article, which discusses the extraordinary impact of Eleanor H. Porter's
book when it originally appeared in 1913.

It looks like being a Pollyanna may have some scientific validity according
to a study in the August 2012 issue of Psychological Science. Participants
in three different groups were required to perform stressful tasks
(such as plunging their hands into icy water) while smiling, holding
chopsticks to force a smile, and not smiling. Heart rates, etc. were
taken and participants experienced greater stress when they did not
smile and the least stress when their smile was genuine. So perhaps the
old adage to "grin and bear it", or better still, the state of being
"naively cheerful and optimistic" benefits not only mood but also
health.

This week's theme reminds me of the story of a powerful king who asked his
wise men to create a ring that helped him get through desperate times and
granted him restraint through prosperous times. On the ring, they wrote:
"This too shall pass." How's that for perspective?

Today's intro (which mentions our need for both pick-me-ups and
ground-me-when-it's-going-wells) reminds me of something I learned about
in high school Latin. Upon his return to the capital after a successful
foreign campaign, a Roman army commander ('imperator') might be treated
to a Triumph, an elaborate procession through the streets of Rome lauding
his spoils and achievements.

During the celebration, the imperator would be accompanied on his chariot by
a slave whose job was to repeatedly whisper in his master's ear. While there
is some argument among scholars as to the exact words the slaves uttered, a
close paraphrase is "Remember you are mortal." This is also where we get the
famous Latin phrase memento mori.

Michael Kohl, Los Angeles, California

From: Trudy Stevenson (j.stevenson computer.org)
Subject: jeremiah
Def: A person who complains continually, has a gloomy attitude, or one who warns about a disastrous future.

In the Netherlands, we also have a verb derived from jeremiah: jeremiëren,
meaning 'whine, complain, lament'.

Dr Pangloss was Voltaire's parody of the philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm
Leibniz, who espoused the views articulated (in a satirical form)
by Pangloss. The notion that this is the best of all possible
worlds was Leibniz's effort to solve the age-old problem of evil,
i.e. if G-d is good,
omniscient, and omnipotent, why is there evil?

In his "Poem on the Lisbon Disaster, or: An Examination of that Axiom
'All Is Well'" (1755), Voltaire writes

Pangloss brings to mind this other French expression used ironically that
stems from a popular song (video) by Ray Ventura:
"Tout va très bien, Madame la Marquise."
Translation: Everything is all right, Madame la Marquise.

Madame la Marquise calls home for news during her short absence. James, her
devoted butler, can't bring himself to bluntly tell her that the family is
ruined, Monsieur le Marquis has committed suicide causing the castle to burn
to the ground, Madame's favorite mare perishing in the flames. So instead,
he keeps saying: "Tout va très bien, Madame la Marquise", everything's
perfect, adding "mais cependant, il faut que l'on vous dise..." "though
you need to know ...". That's how we learn about the tragedy. However,
in the end, the refrain always comes back: "tout va très bien."

Pangloss would probably comment on the current European situation with a
"tout est pour le mieux dans le meilleur des mondes" and one could only
concur: "tout va très, bien Madame la Marquise".

Claudine Voelcker, Munich, Germany

From: Dannie Walker (huskstang mindspring.com)
Subject: Pangloss

I think that it is rather safe to say that Eric Idle plays perhaps the
ultimate Pangloss in the final scene from the Monty Python movie, Life of Brian.

Dannie Walker, Charleston, West Virginia

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Language is not an abstract construction of the learned, or of dictionary
makers, but is something arising out of the work, needs, ties, joys,
affections, tastes, of long generations of humanity, and has its bases
broad and low, close to the ground. -Noah Webster, lexicographer (1758-1843)

Oct 21, 2012

This week's theme
Optimists and pessimists from fiction who became words